© Royal Caridea
Shrimp farm technology provider Royal Caridea has worked closely with engineering technology company Fuel Tech, on a trial to determine the effects of growing Pacific whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus Vannamei) in a raceway system using its patented gas infusion system.
In land-based raceways, a continuous stream of water provides the required level of water quality for the crustaceans to develop, and aeration is necessary to meet the required parameters. The innovative gas infusion technology was tested in back-to-back growth cycles on a raceway with high species stocking and low-salinity water at Royal Caridea’s aquaculture farm in Arizona, US.
In the first growth cycle, traditional bubble aeration was used until the oxygen demand of the water could no longer be met. This required that the shrimp be partially harvested to ensure acceptable dissolved oxygen concentrations were maintained for those remaining.
In the second growth cycle, Fuel Tech’s innovative technology, which uses a patented pressurized saturator for the transfer of an oxygen solution to a slipstream of water, was used to provide dissolved oxygen concentrations at 150 percent of atmospheric saturation. This successfully unlocked the potential for more shrimp to reach maturity within the raceway, along with likely health improvements for the shrimp.
The trial also revealed no evidence of trimethylamine odor, oxidation, excessively fast metabolism, osmotic shock, or gas bubble disease. This suggests that maintaining dissolved oxygen levels above saturation in low-salinity water, without the presence of bubbles, increases the yield, while minimizing any detrimental effects of high oxygen levels.
The two three-month trials are the subject of a new white paper from Fuel Tech, which shows how its dissolved gas infusion process, originally developed for the water and wastewater treatment market, offers multiple benefits in shrimp production. The results of the white paper will be presented by John M Boyle PhD, senior director of technology development at Fuel Tech, at Aquaculture America on 21 February 2024 in San Antonio, Texas.
Bill Decker, vice president of water and wastewater treatment technologies at Fuel Tech said, “Demand for shrimp is increasing globally and shrimp farming is an important source to help meet the growing demand and reduce overfishing of the marine environment. By deploying dissolved gas infusion, producers now have an opportunity to improve stock health and yields, while achieving more efficient operations.”
